2x09 and a half
by citosol
Summary: I loved the awkwardness in 2x09 between Charlie, Dani and Tidwell.I often wondered what could have happened between ep2x09, after they arrested that pusher, and ep2x10 when we saw "the morning after" in Tidwell's house. Two chapters, not betareaded. Sorry
1. I know you guessed it right

Tidwell, Dani and Charlie watched as Bobby drove away with the pusher, and when they weren't able to see his car anymore, they turned and stared awkwardly at each other.

"I think I'm going home..." said Charlie, trying to break the ice.

"Oh, yes...to _Cathy_" threatened Dani.

"No, she left..." he cleared his throat and added "Do you need a ride to reach your car, indeed?" the question seemed accidental, but the look in Charlie's eyes left no doubt about his real intentions.

Her eyes widened a little "No...thanks, it..it's not far from here, I'll walk."

"I'm coming with you, my car is not far from yours" lied Tidwell.

Dani's eyes avoided deliberately looking at him "Thanks".

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning" smiled curiously Charlie without turning away from her.

"Yep" was the answer she gave to the soil.  
But after a second she decided otherwise and looked directly in his eyes. For fuck's sake: what she was about to do with Tidwell were none of Charlie's business, so why was she acting like she was doing something wrong for _them_?

Charlie watched Dani watching him. "Be careful-"

"Charlie…" Dani broke in to stop him saying whatever he was about to, but he was faster

"- it's a long road to your apartment."

She gaped and watched him turning his back, jumping in his car and leaving.

"Dani?" Tidwell stopped her train of thought "I'll understand if you don't want to -"

"- Let's go to your house" she said looking at him.

Tidwell's lips curled in an half smile "You sure?"

Dani smiled back and covered the distance between them, locking her lips with Tidwell's ones. He took her in his arms, and they exchanged a passionate kiss.

"I'm sure."

TBC


	2. Needs

Dani took Tidwell by his hand and guided him towards their car.

The spontaneity of the gesture, the rush of adrenaline for doing forbidden things, the smell of the night made her feel like she was eighteen again.

She knew perfectly well she was acting under the impulse of the moment, but she didn't matter.

This strange man had the ability to pierce slowly but relentlessly in her mind.  
Oh yes, Tidwell had made her always thinking about him: he was her first thought in the morning and her last desire in the evening.  
The worst thing was that lately she had discovered he had even the inborn faculty to touch her heart: he was able to make her happy, confused, angry and even aroused, sometimes. Too many times, to be honest. Just like he did this evening at the gun range.

Tidwell opened the passenger's door and gestured Dani to enter the car.

She made a face "Are you kidding me?"

"I'm a man, I love open the door for my woman" was his laconic explanation.

If the word '_my'_ bothered her, she didn't show.

"I'm not going to let you drive."

Tidwell wondered if she was talking only about the car.

"I drove to get here, and I'll drive us to your place" saying that she headed for the driver's door and entered the car.

Tidwell smiled and took place in the passenger's seat. "You are not going to make the things simple for me, aren't you?"

The look she gave him spoke volumes.

He looked satisfied. "Good."

Definitely not the reaction she expected.

Oh boy. He was doing _that_ again. He was fascinating her. Shaking the head she smiled lightly, and started the engine.

It turned out that Tidwell lived downtown, in a big and modern apartment building.

They entered the elevator and as soon as he pushed the button, Dani cornered him and started unlacing his tie while hungrily kissing him. He kissed her back and let her do whatever she wanted with his tie, with the buttons of his shirt, with his lips and with his tongue.  
Especially with his tongue.

They rushed out of the elevator and Tidwell guided her to his apartment. He unlocked the door with his magnetic card and Dani pushed him inside, closing the door and resting with her back on it.

"So. Here we are." whispered Tidwell looking at her shining eyes.

"Yep." Dani gave him a sly smile and walked deliberately towards him.

"I can see your living room…" her hands on his throat made his head spin

"…your kitchen…" she took off his tie, throwing it on the kitchen's counter

"…a bathroom…" Tidwell's shirt followed the tie

"…and I see a little door there, behind that mirror…" she added while playing with the edge of his brown short-sleeved T-shirt

"…and I'm wondering what I'm going to find behind that door."

Her last words were just a hot whisper in his ear and Tidwell decided that it was his turn to hold the reins of the situation: he grabbed Dani by her wrists and lifting her from the ground he balanced her tiny body on his right shoulder. A movement he had learned ages before: in fact only few people knew he had attended the course to become a fireman before developing the hereditary love for the police force.

"Stop wondering that, 'Alice'-" he murmured adjusting her weight on his shoulder "-are you ready to go to Wonderland?"

He entered the bedroom and threw an aroused Dani on his bed, locking his lips with hers, pinning her on the blue bedspread.

She bit his lower lip and he stood up immediately, touching his mouth

"Hey, Dani…"

The lustful smile she gave him made his blood rush down from his head to his crotch.

"As I said: I'm not going to let you drive."

She got to her feet and grabbed his T-shirt, forcing him to take it off, but when she saw him shirtless she was taken aback.

Her eyes couldn't stop scanning repeatedly his tattooed chest.

He had done that again. He had taken her off guard. The more she found out about him, the more she was intrigued by him. So strange, but so true.

"You _really_ do not go by the book…" was her admired comment.

Tidwell crossed his arms, unintentionally showing her that they were tattooed too.

Her look became more lustful.

Not hiding his pleasure to see that glance in her eyes, he gave her a wily smile "If you let me drive just a little bit I'll show you that there's a certain book I like to go by in these situations…"

Dani rolled briefly her eyes, but mirrored his smile and decided to play along with him "Let me guess which the book you are talking about is…"

Tidwell started taking deliberately his pants off without stopping gazing intensely at her.

"I give you a clue-" he unthreaded the end of his belt from the buckle, exiting his shoes in the meantime

"-usually people don't read it-" his fingers worked on the button and the zip, unfastening them easily

"- but they just watch the pictures and try to imitate what they see in them…" he exited his pants and his boxers, showing her that her kisses and her arrogance had turned him on badly.

She usually didn't like it when Tidwell start to act like a boaster or to be allusive at work, but in the private life she really loved this side of his temper. It got her excited. And she found herself hoping he was a "dirty talker" too.

The urge to have him made Dani undress herself quickly, and launch herself at him. Their bodies were about to lace when they heard a crash near them: the clothes she had taken off had landed on Tidwell's bedside table making something fall on the ground noisily.

Dani turned herself in Tidwell's arms and gazed at the floor.

Then she gave an incredulous look back at Tidwell.

"_Lollipops?_ "

He tilted his head and smiled.

"Yep." He whispered. His right hand caressed her head, pushing a lock of hair away from her face, while his eyes were focused on her full lips "_Strawberry _lollipops, to be more precise." He licked his lips "One of the best things you can put into your mouth."

"_One_ of the best, uh?" Dani smirked and adjusted herself in his embrace "Does it mean that there's something else you want to put into my mouth?" was her crafty question.

Tidwell gave her a knowing smile "Apart from my tongue, you mean?" his mouth reached the back of her right ear, tickling a sensitive point "Of course, it does…"

They flung onto the bed, and during the night they wordlessly discovered many things about each other: that Dani really loved to drive, but even that the right motivation and the right person were able to make her change her mind; that Tidwell wasn't _fat_, he was _big_. And that Dani liked curling herself up in his arms: on his highest surprise this stubborn woman, who openly says to not need protection from anyone, did like a pair of strong arms around her during the night.

And that Tidwell was a really hot dirty talker.

And, after having had him in her mouth, she decided she should definitely try the lollipop the next morning, just to have a term of comparison.

END


End file.
